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<title>Top Country Artists on Rhapsody Online</title>
<dateCreated>Mon Dec 07 16:35:54 PST 2009</dateCreated>
<dateModified>Mon Dec 07 16:35:54 PST 2009</dateModified>
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<outline type="include" text="Taylor Swift" description="With her homespun charm, curly golden locks, and prodigious gift for songwriting, Taylor Swift is one of the youngest Nashville newcomers to capture a national audience in years. When she was just 16, Swift's first big single, &quot;Tim McGraw,&quot; peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard country chart and held a spot in the top 10 for months. On the single's success, Swift joined the ranks of teenage country queens like Tanya Tucker, Marie Osmond and LeAnn Rimes, who all charted as teenagers. Unlike those young chart-toppers, Swift wrote the song herself. Born in Wyomissing, Penn., in 1989, Swift began playing guitar at 12, and moved outside of Nashville with her family as a teen, and debuted at the Bluebird Cafe famed songwriter showcase. Her self-titled debut album, issued in October 2006, spawned a handful of radio hits such as &quot;Tim McGraw,&quot; &quot;Our Song&quot; and &quot;Picture to Burn,&quot; all of which propelled &lt;I&gt;Taylor Swift&lt;/I&gt; to triple-platinum status. Not bad for a beginner! Preceded by the hit &quot;Love Story,&quot; Swift's sophomore effort, &lt;I&gt;Fearless&lt;/I&gt;, was released in November 2008.
- Nate Cavalieri" category="New Country" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/taylor-swift/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="George Strait" description="George Strait is less an elder statesman of country than a pure force of nature. The Texas-born traditionalist continues to enjoy an unbelievable run of success that spans two decades of country music. Strait grew up on a ranch, so his cowboy hat is no affectation. He gravitated to music early on, playing rock in high school and switching to country during a stint in the military. He and his band Ace in the Hole played honky tonks and dancehalls throughout Texas in the 1970s, releasing two independent albums and honing a sound that combined lean Honky-Tonk and hard-hitting Western Swing. Strait scored a major Nashville deal in the early '80s and immediately appeared on the country charts. Amazingly, he has stayed at the top of the charts through the turn of the century, with shelves of gold and platinum records to his credit. Although he records some of his own material, he has relied on top-notch songwriters such as Sonny Throckmorton and Jim Lauderdale throughout his career. Strait has done what few artists have: he's remained wildly successful through a number of sweeping changes that have beset country music, playing primarily in a traditional style.
- Eric Shea" category="New Traditional" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/george-strait/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Kenny Chesney" description="It took him nearly a decade to get there, but in 2002 Kenny Chesney began his ascent to a Garth Brooks-like status in country music when his blockbuster album &lt;I&gt;No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems&lt;/I&gt; rocketed to Number on the country and pop charts and eventually sold more than 4 million copies. In 2008 Chesney won the Academy of Country Music's Entertainer of the Year award for the fourth consecutive year. Chesney's mix of heartland rock, pop and country has earned him more than thirty Top Ten country singles and numerous awards.
&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;
Born Kenneth Arnold Chesney on March 26, 1968, in Knoxville, Tennessee, to a hair stylist mother, he was raised in nearby Luttrell. Chesney played football at Gibbs High School in Corryton, Tennessee, but didn't begin playing music until he was in college at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, where he studied advertising. After graduating, he moved to Nashville and signed with BMI and Opryland Music Group in 1992. His debut album, &lt;I&gt;In My Wildest Dreams&lt;/I&gt;, came out in two years later on the newly revived southern rock label Capricorn Records. Though it was more pure country than his later albums, Chesney set the tone of his winning career with his smooth baritone on slick ballads like &quot;When She Calls Me Baby&quot; and the upbeat honky-tonk of &quot;Whatever It Takes,&quot; which climbed to Number 59 on Billboard's country singles chart.
&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;
Chesney left Capricorn for RCA subsidiary BNA Records and released his breakthrough second album, &lt;I&gt;All I Need to Know&lt;/I&gt; (Number 39, 1995), which yielded Top Ten country hits in the pop-country &quot;Fall in Love&quot; (Number Six, 1995) and ballad &quot;All I Need to Know&quot; (Number Eight, 1995). Successive albums &amp;#8212; &lt;I&gt;Me and You&lt;/I&gt; (Number Nine Country, 1995) and &lt;I&gt;I Will Stand&lt;/I&gt; (Number Ten country, 1997) &amp;#8212; fared even better, producing the country hits &quot;When I Close My Eyes&quot; (Number Two, 1996), &quot;Me and You&quot; (Number Two), &quot;She's Got it All&quot; (Number One), &quot;A Chance&quot; (Number 11), &quot;I Will Stand&quot; (Number 27) and &quot;That's Why I'm Here&quot; (Number Two).
&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;
Chesney became a crossover success with &lt;I&gt;Everywhere We Go&lt;/I&gt; (Number Five country, Number 51 Pop, 1999), with its hits &quot;How Forever Feels&quot; (Number One country, Number 27 pop, 1999), &quot;You Had Me from Hello&quot; (Number One country, Number 34 pop), the novelty song &quot;She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy&quot; (Number 11 country, Number 68 pop, 1999), and &quot;What I Need to Do&quot; (Number 8 country, Number 56 pop, 2000). The album sold 2 million copies. He began the next decade of his career with &lt;I&gt;Greatest Hits&lt;/I&gt; (Number One country, Number 13 pop, 2000), which featured four new songs including &quot;I Lost It&quot; (Number Three country, Number 34 pop) and &quot;Don't Happen Twice&quot; (Number One country, Number 26 pop).
&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;
Chesney's sixth release, 2002's &lt;I&gt;No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems&lt;/I&gt; was barely country at all; aside from his Tennessee twang and the presence of pedal-steel guitar, the songs were more in line with those of such average-guy, heartland rockers as Bob Seger, Tom Petty or John Mellencamp. &lt;I&gt;No Shoes…&lt;/I&gt; rocketed to Number One on both the pop and country charts, yielding huge crossover hits in the upbeat rockers &quot;Young&quot; (Number Two country, Number 35 pop) and &quot;Big Star&quot; (Number Two country, Number 28 pop), the ballad &quot;A Lot of Things Different&quot; (Number Six country, Number 55 pop) and mid-tempo &quot;The Good Stuff&quot; (Number One country, Number 22 pop, and the pure pop-country of the title track (Number Two country, Number 28 pop, 2003).
&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;
Chesney has continued his momentum with successive platinum and multi-platinum Number One country albums throughout the 2000s: &lt;I&gt;When the Sun Goes Down&lt;/I&gt; (Number One country, Number One pop, 2004), &lt;I&gt;Be as You Are (Songs from an Old Blue Chair)&lt;/I&gt; (Number One country, Number One pop, 2005), &lt;I&gt;The Road and the Radio&lt;/I&gt; (Number One country, Number One pop, 2005), &lt;I&gt;Live: Live Those Songs Again&lt;/I&gt; (Number One country, Number Four pop, 2006) and &lt;I&gt;Just Who I Am: Poets &amp; Pirates&lt;/I&gt; (Number One country, Number Three pop, 2007).
&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;
His string of Top Ten country hits in the 2000s includes, &quot;There Goes My Life&quot; (Number One country, Number 29 pop, 2004), his duet with Uncle Kracker &quot;When the Sun Goes Down&quot; (Number One country, Number 26 pop, 2004), his collaboration with Jimmy Buffett, Clint Black, Alan Jackson, Toby Keith and George Strait on Hank Williams' &quot;Hey Good Lookin'&quot; (Number Eight country, Number 63 pop, 2004), &quot;Anything But Mine&quot; (Number One country, Number 48 pop, 2005), &quot;Living in Fast Forward&quot; (Number One country, Number 48 pop, 2005), &quot;Summertime&quot; (Number One country, Number 34 pop, 2006), &quot;Beer In Mexico&quot; (Number One country, Number 61 pop, 2007), &quot;Never Wanted Nothing More&quot; (Number One country, Number 22 pop, 2007), &quot;Don't Blink&quot; (Number One country, Number 29 pop, 2007) and his duet with Strait on &quot;Shiftwork&quot; (Number Two country, Number 47 pop, 2007).
&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;
Chesney has won numerous awards including Academy of Country Music honors for New Male Vocalist of the Year (1997), Top Male Vocalist of the Year (2002) and Entertainer of the Year (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008); Country Music Association nods for Album of the Year (When the Sun Goes Down, 2004) and Entertainer of the Year (2004, 2006, 2007); and American Music Association awards for Artist of the Year (2004) and Entertainer of the Year (2007); as well as several CMT video awards.
&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;
In 2005, Chesney's personal life became tabloid news when he married actress Renée Zellweger in the U.S. Virgin Islands and filed for an annulment after only four months of marriage. In 2008, Chesney &amp;#8212; who has a home in the Caribbean &amp;#8212; was slated to embark on his Corona beer-sponsored &quot;Poets &amp; Pirates&quot; stadium tour with openers LeAnn Rimes and Keith Urban.
" category="New Country" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/kenny-chesney/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Rascal Flatts" description="Cousins Jay DeMarcus and Gary LeVox (born Gary Vernon) both nurtured their dreams of musical stardom while growing up in Ohio. When DeMarcus landed in Chely Wright's band, he convinced LeVox to quit his job and join him in Nashville. DeMarcus met Joe Don Rooney through Wright's band, and when their regular guitarist couldn't make a show, Rooney offered to step in and Rascal Flatts was born. The trio signed to Lyric Street, and in 2000 released its eponymous debut, which produced four hit singles. In 2002, they coproduced their sophomore effort, &lt;I&gt;I Melt&lt;/I&gt;, which again produced four hit singles -- including two No. 1s. If there was any nervousness about following up a double-platinum seller, it didn't show on 2004's &lt;I&gt;Feels Like Today&lt;/I&gt;, which debuted in the top slot on both the pop and country charts. In 2006, Rascal Flatts added another feather to an already heavily decorated cap when their version of &quot;Life Is a Highway,&quot; recorded for the Pixar movie &lt;I&gt;Cars&lt;/I&gt;, topped the ringtone charts. The single did so well, it was added onto their fourth album, &lt;I&gt;Me and My Gang&lt;/I&gt;. &lt;I&gt;Still Feels Good&lt;/I&gt; was released in 2007, followed by &lt;I&gt;Greatest Hits&lt;/I&gt; in 2008.Bio addendum: In 2009, the band released their sixth studio effort, the aptly titled, &lt;I&gt;Unstoppable&lt;/I&gt;.
- Linda Ryan" category="New Country" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/rascal-flatts/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Jimmy Buffett" description="Jimmy Buffett was a country rocker before 1977's aptly titled &lt;i&gt;Changes in Latitude, Changes in Attitude&lt;/i&gt; cemented his image as a beachcombing sage. Although he hit his creative peak during this period, Key West, Fla.'s favorite son has continued to write amusing, often intelligent tunes. A wise businessman, he has become the hero of &quot;parrot heads&quot; -- blue and white-collar working stiffs who would love to lead the life about which he writes (music, novels, plays) and sings. Jimmy Buffett is indeed a genre of one.
- Eric Shea" category="Singer-Songwriter" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/jimmy-buffett/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Gloriana" description="Brothers Tom and Mike Gossin formed the earliest incarnation of Gloriana when they moved to North Carolina for college. Schoolwork quickly fell by the wayside when the brothers decided to move to Nashville to pursue their musical ambitions. The twosome met Rachel Reinert through MySpace, and although the duo had never sung with a third party -- much less a woman -- once they heard Rachel and the harmonies she brought to their music, they were convinced to give it a go. At one of their earliest Nashville shows, they were spotted by &lt;I&gt;America's Most Talented Kid&lt;/I&gt; winner Cheyenne Kimball. After having released an album of teen-oriented pop, Kimball was looking to start a new chapter in her career. After the show, the mandolin-playing singer asked if she could join the band, and thus Gloriana was born. In February 2008, the quartet signed to producer Matt Serletic's Emblem Music Group and went into the studio with Serletic at the helm. Their debut single, &quot;Wild at Heart,&quot; was released in May 2009, with an album expected to follow later in the summer.
- Linda Ryan" category="New Country" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/gloriana/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Brad Paisley" description="Brad Paisley has a bit more going for him than your average Nashville molded hunk-in-a-hat. Before moving to Music City, he was a teenage phenomenon in his native West Virginia. Leading a country band, Paisley sang in a mature voice and played a wicked Bakersfield honky-tonk-influenced lead guitar. When he got to Nashville, he quickly nailed a publishing deal, which in turn led to a recording contract. Paisley wrote or co-wrote every song and played lead guitar on his 1999 debut &lt;i&gt;Who Needs Pictures&lt;/i&gt;. In 2003, he released chart-topper &lt;I&gt;Mud on the Tires&lt;/I&gt;. &lt;I&gt;Time Well Wasted&lt;/I&gt; came at the end of 2005, and earned him both the CMA and ACM award for Album of the Year, as well as four Grammy nominations. A few months after Paisley's son William Huckleberry was born in 2007, his sixth album, &lt;I&gt;5th Gear&lt;/I&gt;, was released. The album succeeded with a handful of hit singles and a Grammy for the instrumental track, &quot;Throttleneck.&quot; Perhaps the award was inspiration for his next album, the largely instrumental effort, &lt;I&gt;Play&lt;/I&gt;.
- Linda Ryan" category="New Country" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/brad-paisley/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Sugarland" description="Country-pop duo Sugarland began as a trio playing in small clubs in Atlanta, Georgia. The trio, Jennifer Nettles, Kristen Hall and Kristian Bush, were all fixtures on the Atlanta scene through various other projects (most notably Bush's outfit, Billy Pilgrim) but it was when they came together as Sugarland in 2002 that people began to take notice. After a number of sold-out shows, the group was signed to Mercury Records. In 2004, Sugarland released their debut, &lt;I&gt;Twice the Speed of Life&lt;/I&gt;, which spawned the hits &quot;Baby Girl&quot; (which spent a whopping 46 weeks on the Billboard charts) and &quot;Something More.&quot; Shortly before heading back to the studio, Kristen Hall announced she was leaving the band to concentrate on songwriting. Now a duo, Sugarland released &lt;I&gt;Enjoy the Ride&lt;/I&gt; in late 2006, and despite the absence of Hall, the album went double-platinum, thanks in part to the heartfelt tear-jerker &quot;Stay.&quot; In the summer of 2008, Sugarland released the uber catchy single, &quot;All I Want to Do,&quot; which rocketed up the country charts, prompting an early release of their third album, &lt;i&gt;Love On The Inside&lt;/i&gt;.
- Linda Ryan" category="New Country" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/sugarland/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Johnny Cash" description="You might consider Johnny Cash the original gangster. He sang a song about killing a man &quot;just to watch him die&quot; long before young men began to wear big pants and cap their teeth in gold. His trademark baritone growl and disdainful sneer were the crown and scepter he bore as the king of outlaw country music. Cash's unique sound wasn't complex by any means. His Southern Gothic-tinged narratives and lighthearted country songs contained similar elements to Woody Guthrie's simple ditties. However, nobody but Cash could sing those songs with the burning, heartfelt fever that has made him one of the most influential people in country music. Originally, he wanted to make gospel music after finishing up a Korean War tour of duty in the U.S. Air Force. But after releasing his first single on Sun Records (&quot;Cry Cry Cry&quot; backed with &quot;Hey Porter&quot;), it was perfectly clear that he was a country singer. Cash's music has never strayed from what he knew best: rock 'n' roll's rebellion, folk's painfully autobiographical sensibility, and country music's lovelorn longing. The Man In Black passed away in Nashville, Tenn., on September 12, 2003, due to complications brought on by diabetes. He survived his beloved wife, June Carter Cash, by four months.
- Eric Shea" category="Outlaw Country" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/johnny-cash/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Neil Young" description="Throughout his extraordinary career, Neil Young's Americana-rooted songwriting has dipped into a staggering variety of styles and tones. With the live &lt;i&gt;Time Fades Away&lt;/i&gt;, the spatial &lt;i&gt;On The Beach&lt;/i&gt; and the liquid &lt;i&gt;Tonight's The Night&lt;/i&gt;, Neil inadvertently presented his so-called doom trilogy -- three records that beautifully capture throwing in the towel. 1975's &lt;i&gt;Zuma&lt;/i&gt; signaled a return from the darkness to the sunny, rural rock he first explored on &lt;i&gt;Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere&lt;/i&gt;. &lt;i&gt;Comes A Time&lt;/i&gt; found him hip deep in a fermentation of 1970s canyon and country rock, while &lt;I&gt;Rust Never Sleeps&lt;/I&gt; unfolded his career multi-dimensionally as he unleashed his acoustic/electric duality to a receptive commercial and critical audience. With &lt;i&gt;Freedom&lt;/i&gt; and &lt;i&gt;Ragged Glory&lt;/i&gt;, Young made a valiant return to form in the late '80s and early '90s before recapturing acoustic peace with &lt;i&gt;Harvest Moon&lt;/i&gt;, his 1992 release that many view as the sequel to his heroically pastoral 1972 album &lt;i&gt;Harvest&lt;/i&gt;. The Canadian transplant's high, watery tenor emotes with an elasticity that can effortlessly traverse into falsetto with natural warmth and heavenly tremolo. You'll find the real Young singing the hazy guitar epics &quot;Like A Hurricane&quot; and &quot;Cortez the Killer,&quot; or when songs such as the gentle &quot;Birds&quot; and &quot;Motion Pictures&quot; seem to weep from your speakers. True to form, Neil Young is one of the only songwriters in the world who can approximate the sound of a heart breaking with his voice.
- Eric Shea" category="Classic Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/neil-young/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Tim McGraw" description="For a while there in the early 1990s, Tim McGraw and Garth Brooks were running neck and neck up the country music charts and it looked like Brooks was in the lead, but a slew of multi-platinum albums and undeniable good looks don't lie. Rather, they solidified McGraw as the most popular male country star of the '90s (especially with the lady fans who made him into somewhat of a heartthrob). Of course, it also helped that McGraw was a relentless touring machine, and his marriage to mega-star country diva Faith Hill didn't hurt. And baseball fans favored McGraw on account of his being the son of famous major league southpaw pitcher Tug McGraw (former player for the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies). Tim McGraw's polished new traditional sound is rooted in old school, boot-scootin' honky-tonk and some of the catchier sides of southern rock from the '80s that, when mixed with the former, would help innovate the new traditional sound altogether. And if his early ballads sound influenced by the late, great Keith Whitley, it's because McGraw idolized him while growing up. McGraw found his own sound (and first real chart topper) with 1994's playfully twangy &quot;Indian Outlaw,&quot; but not without some controversy surrounding the allegedly politically incorrect depiction of Native American stereotypes in the lyrics. But as they say, no press is bad press and &quot;Indian Outlaw&quot; crossed over to the pop charts, setting the tone for McGraw's snowballing success. In 1996, he toured his third album&lt;i&gt;All I Want&lt;/i&gt; with opener Faith Hill and by the end of the jaunt, the two were hitched and fetching all kinds of Johnny and June Carter Cash comparisons. McGraw and Hill's first duet, the romantic, heart-string pulling &quot;It's Your Love,&quot; came out in 1997 with the kind of affectionate aplomb that propelled McGraw (and Hill) to red carpeted, crossover superstardom.
- Eric Shea" category="New Country" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/tim-mcgraw/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Toby Keith" description="Toby Keith first gained national recognition in 1993 with his tongue-in-cheek No. 1 hit &quot;Should've Been a Cowboy.&quot; Along with a slew of like-minded country artists, he was a part of the neo-traditionalist movement that was intent on wresting the radio waves from the slick pop product pushers of the time. In the late-1990s he released a string of country hits that showcased his deep vocals and decidedly uptown yet tasteful arrangements. Then shortly after the turn of the century, Keith reinvented himself as a controversial crooner of sorts after recording 2002's &quot;Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American),&quot; one of the first songs to cash in on the 9-11 tragedy with its vengeful lyrics promising that America would put a &quot;boot in the ass&quot; of the terrorists. The song was an instant hit with red state country music fans and compelled &lt;i&gt;ABC News&lt;/i&gt; anchor Peter Jennings to protest Keith's appearance on a network Fourth of July special. Of course tons of media hoopla followed, giving Keith the kind of priceless promotion that propelled &quot;Courtesy&quot; into legendary crossover hit status. Since then, Keith has continued to crank out the kind of roadhouse honky-tonk country songs that he began his career with, but he also stuck with what made him the most money -- riling up angry right wing Americans. His 2003 album &lt;i&gt;Shock'n Y'all&lt;/i&gt; (it sounds like &quot;Shock And Awe&quot; when you say it out loud) featured &quot;The Taliban Song,&quot; which referred to Middle Eastern men as camel herders. In interviews, Keith dismisses these kinds of songs as &quot;bus songs,&quot; tunes that he pens for fun, and were never meant to be released until his fans insisted. But not all of his &quot;bus songs&quot; are politically charged. Keith's &quot;Weed With Willie&quot; (also from &lt;i&gt;Shock'n Y'all&lt;/i&gt;) makes light of Willie Nelson's love for incredibly strong marijuana and &quot;Grain of Salt&quot; from 2006's &lt;i&gt;White Trash With Money&lt;/i&gt; serves as a tourist's tequila anthem.
- Eric Shea" category="New Traditional" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/toby-keith/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Keith Urban" description="Australia-by-way-of-New Zealand-born Keith Urban grew up loving the sounds of '60s Nashville, but don't expect to hear too much Jim Reeves in his young-hearted country love songs. Urban's sound may be rooted in the past, but his music is all about the present, replete with semi-programmed beats and dramatic, sweeping crescendos. When he was a small child, Urban took guitar lessons from a woman who placed a guitar instruction ad in his father's shop window. Not only did he show a seemingly innate talent for the instrument, but also for acting and singing in grade school plays and musicals. He was winning talent shows before he was even ten years old. Urban's father shared his love for old country songs with the boy, so the early influences of his father's record collection seeped in and set the tone for who he is today. But long before Urban became one of America's hot country stars, he played with the Ranch, a twangy Australian trio enamored with traditional tones and catchy songs. (Capitol Nashville has actually re-released their long out-of-print debut and added two bonus tracks.) Urban married actress Nicole Kidman on June 25th, 2006 before checking into the Betty Ford Center on October 19th of the same year. He successfully completed rehabilitation on January 18th, 2007 just in time to tour his album &lt;i&gt;Love, Pain And The Whole Crazy Thing&lt;/i&gt;. &lt;I&gt;Defying Gravity&lt;/I&gt; followed in March, 2009.
- Eric Shea" category="New Country" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/keith-urban/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Wilco" description="Following the 1994 breakup of alt country pioneers Uncle Tupelo, co-founder Jeff Tweedy immediately formed Wilco. Over the next three albums, the band recorded the rootsy &lt;i&gt;A.M.&lt;/i&gt;, veered toward the orchestral pop of &lt;i&gt;Being There&lt;/i&gt;, and earned a Grammy nomination for &lt;i&gt;Mermaid Avenue&lt;/i&gt; (an album of Woody Guthrie lyrics for which the band and Billy Bragg wrote music), before running toward a sunny, West Coast-inspired pop utopia of complex introspection with &lt;i&gt;Summer Teeth&lt;/i&gt;. Upon parting ways with founding member Jay Bennett, Wilco independently released (after some wrangling with Warner Bros.) &lt;/i&gt;Yankee Hotel Foxtrot&lt;/i&gt;. It was with &lt;i&gt;Foxtrot&lt;/i&gt; that Wilco succeeded at leaving any alt country vestiges behind, venturing into more moody, dislocated songwriting tangled up inside noise experiments and amputated guitar leads. Wilco's fifth album &lt;i&gt;A Ghost Is Born&lt;/i&gt; continued to help the band search for their sound somewhere between sonic gambles and innovative production. Their sixth, &lt;i&gt;Sky Blue Sky&lt;/i&gt;, came in the spring of 2007, sounding like a return to simplified guitar pop with sing-along songs that unfold and unleash stormy guitar solos courtesy of Nels Cline. Some songs even hint at a slight return to the band's twangy roots.
- Eric Shea" category="Indie/Alternative" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/wilco/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Carrie Underwood" description="In May of 2005, Carrie Underwood became the fourth winning contestant on the hugely popular TV show &lt;I&gt;American Idol&lt;/I&gt;. Seemingly within seconds her first single was released, &quot;Inside Your Heaven.&quot; Underwood has all the makings of a classic ballad belter, with an extremely powerful voice and a gift for emotiveness but her music seems geared towards the country crowd more than the teen crowd of fellow winner Kelly Clarkson or the contemporary R&amp;B of Reuben Studdard, the show's second winner. But &lt;i&gt;Idol&lt;/i&gt; wasn't Underwood's only outlet for musical championship. Her debut long player &lt;i&gt;Some Hearts&lt;/i&gt; went 6X Platinum and broke Nielson SoundScan history as the fastest selling debut country album. She has since taken home five Billboard Music Awards, four American Music Awards, two Grammys and Female Vocalist Of The Year awards for 2006 and in 2007, shortly after the release of her critically acclaimed sophomore album &lt;i&gt;Carnival Ride&lt;/i&gt;.
- Mike McGuirk" category="New Country" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/carrie-underwood/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Alan Jackson" description="Alan Jackson's quiet country voice packs a heavy, passionate punch with its heartfelt inflections and Honky-Tonk soul. Since the 1980s, this New Traditionalist has been blending spiritual and studio alchemy to create new ways of filling beers with tears. From chart toppers like &quot;Love's Got a Hold On You&quot; to his rocking rendition of &quot;Summertime Blues,&quot; it is evident that Jackson has an expansive vocal and musical range. Even his more compromised, Nashville-sounding songs manage to incorporate a strong sense of soul that seems piped in directly on his textured vocals.
- Eric Shea" category="New Country" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/alan-jackson/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Zac Brown Band" description="Zac Brown entertained audiences for years as a solo artist, winning people over with his deft flat-picking and original songs. Eventually, Brown added band members John Hopkins (bass) and Jimmy De Martini (fiddle) to form the Zac Brown Band; the trio expanded to a five-piece when Chris Fryar (drums) and Coy Bowles (guitar/organ) joined. The quintet employs an aggressive tour philosophy (often playing upwards of 200 shows a year) and has opened for the Allman Brothers, Willie Nelson, Travis Tritt and Sugarland, among others. Their grassroots approach to music has won them legions of loyal fans throughout the South, especially in Brown's home state of Georgia. The band's self-financed debut, &lt;I&gt;Home Grown&lt;/I&gt;, was released at the end of 2005, and the live effort &lt;I&gt;Live From the Rock Bus Tour&lt;/I&gt; followed in 2007. &lt;I&gt;The Foundation&lt;/I&gt; was released in 2008, producing the Southern celebratory single &quot;Chicken Fried,&quot; which made its way to the country charts.
- Linda Ryan" category="Americana" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/zac-brown-band/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Creedence Clearwater Revival" description="Aside from Gram Parsons, no one has influenced Americana music as much as Creedence Clearwater Revival. Their gritty fusion of swamp pop, country rock, hillbilly soul, and a driving dose of Southern-inspired R&amp;B gave the band their trademark &quot;chooglin'&quot; sound. Formed by John Fogerty in 1967 out of El Cerrito, Calif., the band released seven futile singles on Fantasy Records as the Golliwogs. In 1968, they changed their name and CCR's first album was a hit, largely due to the rustic rendition of &quot;Suzie Q.&quot; While they were geographically close to the Haight-Ashbury scene, songs like &quot;Fortunate Son&quot; revealed that the band didn't identify with the prevalent counterculture (in part made up of trust-funded hippie kids at the time). Fogerty's vision of a good party was painted in the bouncy strut of &quot;Down on the Corner,&quot; a song that proved that white boys could get funky. CCR broke up in 1972, and Fogerty's successful solo career spawned similar songs, sealing any existing doubts that he was the central songwriter in the band.
- Eric Shea" category="Classic Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/creedence-clearwater-revival/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Willie Nelson" description="Willie Nelson was one of the original outlaws of country music, and one of its most influential songwriters. He began playing in the 1960s, writing &quot;Crazy&quot; for Patsy Cline and &quot;Hello Walls&quot; for Faron Young. Nelson's career as a performer flourished in the mid-1970s when he joined up with Waylon Jennings and released the crossover, chart-topping &lt;I&gt;Red Headed Stranger&lt;/I&gt;. It was the hit &quot;Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain&quot; that perpetuated the then-popular image of the longhaired country boy. Willie Nelson had arrived as a country superstar. His folky, nasal inflections carried his voice through many different genres of music, including Western Swing, traditional pop, jazz, Traditional Country, Cowboy country songs, Honky-Tonk, rock 'n' roll, folk music and of course, the blues. Nelson's success lasted until the late 1980s, when some trouble with the IRS landed him in a number of stuffed-crust pizza commercials and a cameo role in the film &lt;i&gt;Half Baked&lt;/i&gt; smoking his beloved joints. When the day is done, Nelson can easily be considered a bona fide legend.
- Eric Shea" category="Outlaw Country" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/willie-nelson/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Jason Aldean" description="Not too many people get more than one chance at breaking in the music industry, especially in the overly competitive and unforgiving realm of country music. But after getting dropped from two different labels, Jason Aldean was picked up by Broken Bow records. And it came at quite a crucial time in his life. He and his wife had a new baby, two car payments pending and a mortgage to pay. Not that he's in it for the money, but it sure didn't hurt to be given a third chance. And as the old cliche goes, the third time was the charm. Aldean's 2005 self-titled debut album was rich in twangy, rootsy rock and his songs meshed perfectly into Nashville's return to redneck pride and all things &lt;I&gt;Dukes Of Hazzard&lt;/I&gt;. In 2007, Aldean released his sophomore effort, &lt;I&gt;Relentless&lt;/I&gt;. Buoyed by the radio hit &quot;Johnny Cash,&quot; the album was certified gold in record time. In 2008, he took part in CMT on Tour with Lady Antebellum and Eric Durrance. Aldean went back into the studio later that year to start work on his third release, &lt;I&gt;Wide Open&lt;/I&gt;, which was released in 2009.
- Eric Shea" category="New Country" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/jason-aldean/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Alison Krauss" description="Alison Krauss was slated for greatness at an early age. At 12, the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America named her Most Promising Fiddler in the Midwest; just two years later, in 1985, she signed to Rounder Records. But even those honors barely foretold the success Krauss would eventually enjoy, breaking out of the bluegrass scene to become a bona-fide pop star with 26 Grammys to her name. Krauss' biggest record to date has been 2007's &lt;I&gt;Raising Sand&lt;/I&gt;, which might have something to do with the participation of a certain Robert Plant. Produced by T-Bone Burnett, the unlikely project turned out to be a natural pairing, with the singers' voices hanging sweetly together over an easy, supple backdrop of rootsy Americana. The album, a critical and commercial success, followed shortly after &lt;I&gt;A Hundred Miles or More&lt;/I&gt;, a collection of Krauss' collaborations with artists like Brad Paisley, James Taylor and Sting. Beyond singing and songwriting, Krauss also produces other artists' records, such as Alan Jackson's acclaimed 2006 release, &lt;I&gt;Like Red on a Rose&lt;/I&gt;.
- Philip Sherburne" category="Bluegrass" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/alison-krauss/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Dixie Chicks" description="Few of the millions and millions of people who bought the Dixie Chicks' major label debut, &lt;i&gt;Wide Open Spaces,&lt;/i&gt; knew that the band had already been together for almost a decade, playing the folk and bluegrass circuit. The group was started by champion fiddle player Martie Seidel and her banjo-playing sister Emily Irwin. They went through a succession of lead singers before settling on Natalie Maines in the late-1990s. Maines' country pedigree is impressive, beginning with her father Lloyd Maines, a legendary pedal steel guitarist and studio luminary who has produced and played with Uncle Tupelo, Richard Buckner and Joe Ely, among others. With Maines in place, the Chicks dropped some of their bluegrass trappings in favor of a more conventional New Country sound. The fine-tuning paid off. &lt;I&gt;Wide Open Spaces&lt;/I&gt; rocketed to the top of the charts, as did its follow-up &lt;i&gt;Fly&lt;/i&gt;. But 2002's aptly titled &lt;i&gt;Home&lt;/i&gt; found the girls returning to their bluegrass roots (despite the pop-friendly cover of Stevie Nicks' &quot;Landslide&quot;), which was a well-timed choice considering that by then, country music fans were caught up in old-timey fever thanks to the &lt;i&gt;O Brother, Where Art Thou&lt;/i&gt; phenomenon. &lt;i&gt;Top of the World Tour: Live&lt;/i&gt; was released in November of 2003, perfectly capturing the unstoppable energy and undying love for country music the Dixie Chicks exude on the live stage. Unfortunately, it was overshadowed and even boycotted by many media outlets after Maines test-drove the First Amendment on a London stage when she stated: &quot;Just so you know, we're ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas.&quot; Following the short-lived Dixie Chicks boycott, the band released &quot;I Hope&quot; in 2005, a hit single recorded to garner charity funds for victims of Hurricane Katrina. Their seventh studio album, &lt;i&gt;Taking the Long Way, &lt;/i&gt; was released in late May of 2006.
- Eric Shea" category="New Country" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/dixie-chicks/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Lady Antebellum" description="Georgia trio Lady Antebellum incorporate elements of Southern rock and roots-inspired pop for a twanging, radio-friendly sound rich with boy-girl harmonies.
Formed in 2006, Lady Antebellum have gone from obscurity to playing with country legends such as Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw, Alan Jackson, Carrie Underwood -- you get the picture. The roots of the group took hold when Dave Haywood and Charles Kelley became friends in junior high school. Bonded by a love of music, their friendship continued even when the two were separated during their college years. Flash forward to a fateful day in a local Nashville hot spot, when Kelley met Hillary Scott. The two ended up agreeing to try to write together, and Kelley called Haywood and dragged him down to Nashville. The trio started writing and came up with a handful of songs, including what would be their first single, &quot;Love Don't Live Here.&quot; Lady Antebellum were born. It didn't take long for Lady A (as their fans call them) to get signed. In 2008, Lady Antebellum released their self-titled debut.
- Linda Ryan" category="New Country" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/lady-antebellum/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Brooks &amp; Dunn" description="Brooks and Dunn are like a &lt;i&gt;Star Search&lt;/i&gt; dream come true. Kix Brooks was on the Capitol Records roster with a solo album before spending time writing songs for a handful of country artists. Through an introduction from Arista Nashville guru Tim DuBois, Brooks befriended Ronnie Dunn who had won a national country talent competition. The uncanny chemistry between the two quickly made them the most popular country duo of the 1990s. Their slick sound and warm tones traverse from heavy, knee slapping, honky-tonk inspired boogie rock to radio-friendly ballads worthy of womanly tears in beers. Brooks and Dunn's songs tend to lure fans of new country music with their sharp ears for barbed melody as well as their hypnotizing close-harmonies. After 20 successful years, Brooks and Dunn announced that after a farewell tour in 2010, the two would retire as a duo. To commemorate, they released &lt;I&gt;#1s and Then Some&lt;/I&gt; in October 2009. The 30-song double album includes 23 No. 1 hits plus two new songs: &quot;Indian Summer&quot; and &quot;Honky Tonk Stomp.&quot; An expansive collection, &lt;I&gt;#1s and Then Some&lt;/I&gt; is a brilliant bookend to a distinguished career.
- Eric Shea" category="New Country" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/brooks-dunn/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="John Denver" description="If thrift store record bins are any sort of barometer, it would seem that every person in America at one time owned a John Denver record. By this same logic, you can also guess to say that they all tossed them out at the same time. At some point, John Denver went from being America's most loved singer-songwriter to being the punchline on late-night talk shows. Blame it on overexposure or his constant mugging with Muppets, George Burns, and other bloodless creatures. Eventually, his humanitarian concerns took precedence over his folk/pop. The author of such heart-on-a-sleeve snapshots as &quot;Sunshine On My Shoulder&quot; and &quot;Rocky Mountain High&quot; died in a plane crash in 1997. John Denver's real name was Henry John Deutschendorf. He was raised on many Air Force bases, but always loved and championed the outdoors.
- Eric Shea" category="Country Pop/Cosmopolitan" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/john-denver/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Billy Currington" description="Billy Currington grew up with an alcoholic stepfather who turned him on to the country artists who would later influence his own music: Willie Nelson, Keith Whitley, Waylon Jennings, Alabama and George Strait all helped to shape Currington's traditional-tinged country songwriting. He started writing songs at the age of 12, but didn't pursue a serious musical career until a preacher from a friend's church was so impressed by his talent that he drove the young singer-songwriter to Nashville to audition at Opryland, U.S.A. Although he didn't make the audition, one thing was certain: Currington knew exactly what he wanted to do with the rest of his life.
- Eric Shea" category="New Country" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/billy-currington/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="The Band" description="The Band's saga began in the late 1950s when they performed with Ronnie Hawkins as the Hawks. In 1965, they became Bob Dylan's band. After his motorcycle accident in 1966, they changed their name to the Band and relocated to upstate New York in a house they dubbed &quot;Big Pink.&quot; It was here that The Band began to write and record songs that would influence anyone in love with music surrounding the myths of Americana lore. Guitarist Robbie Robertson, pianist Richard Manuel, drummer Levon Helm, and bass player Rick Danko all shared singing responsibilities. From the swamp boogie of &quot;Up on Cripple Creek&quot; to the pure soul of &quot;The Weight,&quot; the Band had just begun to realize their ability to capture and release the ghosts of Okie souls in their unpretentious, down-home, roots music. While the songs available here run the gamut of the Band's almost incalculable career, many of their fans believe the sessions recorded at Big Pink to be their collective opus. Manuel took his life in 1986. Rick Danko died in his sleep on December 10, 1999.
- Eric Shea" category="Americana" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/the-band/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Darius Rucker" description="Contrary to popular belief, Darius Rucker is not Hootie, even if he did sell millions of albums as the frontman for the '90s roots-rock band Hootie &amp; the Blowfish. In 2002, Rucker released &lt;I&gt;Back to Then&lt;/I&gt;, a pop/R&amp;B solo effort that came and went. In 2008, the honey-timbered singer released his second solo album, I&gt;Learn to Live&lt;/I&gt;, and a country star was born. &lt;I&gt;Learn to Live&lt;/I&gt; garnered rave reviews and Rucker's song, &quot;Don't Think I Don't Think About It,&quot; went Top 10 on the Country charts.
- Linda Ryan" category="New Country" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/darius-rucker/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Reba McEntire" description="Reba McEntire is at the top of the heap when it comes to big-time country pop stars. An uninterrupted string of No. 1 hits in the '80s and the steady stream of multi-million selling records since has made her name one of the most recognized in the genre. She sings with Tammy-fied power, delivering ballads on top of ballads that have gradually incorporated an ever-slickening sheen of studio craft. In recent years she has taken on the image of a Nashville matriarch, and her songs are geared to inspire the millions of people listening to young country radio today.
- Eric Shea" category="Country Pop/Cosmopolitan" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/reba-mcentire/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Dierks Bentley" description="Unlike many other young men with hyped debut albums spilling out of Nashville, Dierks Bentley wasn't bred to be a country star. He didn't grow up with a preacher father or a gospel-singing mom and nobody dragged him to the Grand Ole Opry when he was a kid. Bentley had to pick it all up on his own. He collected country records as a child and when he was old enough to drink, he found himself pounding the pavement and hitting up live show after live show in Music City. His wide-eyed, heartfelt songs sound like this: If &lt;I&gt;Dawson's Creek&lt;/I&gt; wasn't just about white American middle class kids, but white American middle class kids growing up in suburban Tennessee, Bentley would be all over those soundtracks.
- Eric Shea" category="New Traditional" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/dierks-bentley/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Chris Isaak" description="Gifted with an absolutely divine voice and a riveting stage presence, Isaak is one of the few performers that can pull off both infectious rockers and heartfelt ballads with utter conviction and unrivaled style. Though it was the former that made him cool, it was the latter that made him famous. Once his &quot;Wicked Game&quot; was featured in David Lynch's 1990 film masterpiece &lt;I&gt;Wild At Heart&lt;/I&gt;, it wasn't long before people took notice; naturally, an ultrasexy video for the song with supermodel Helena Christensen didn't exactly hurt his popularity. Subsequent efforts, while smoother and less steamy than his 1980s work, have all been successes.
- Doug Russell" category="Adult Alternative" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/chris-isaak/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Shania Twain" description="In the mid-1990s, Shania Twain put the whammy on the country music industry with a string of chart-busting hits -- which sounded more like stadium rock than Country Pop -- and a brazenly sexy image. Much to the chagrin of more traditional-minded critics, Twain broke sales records and paved the way for such stars as Jo Dee Messina and the Dixie Chicks. She remains a major figure on the scene, with a second CMA award-winning album and a reworking of her red hot image, which de-emphasizes sex appeal and focuses on female empowerment in a male-dominated industry. Retaining the loud guitars and anthemic quality of &lt;i&gt;The Woman in Me&lt;/i&gt; (1997), Shania's more recent work still appeals to the crossover market she tore open, but she sometimes still makes concessions to the naysayers of yesterday with a stronger twang in her voice and more overtly countrified melodies.
- Eric Shea" category="Country Pop/Cosmopolitan" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/shania-twain/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Faith Hill" description="The other half of new country's First Family (she's married to Tim McGraw), Faith Hill has been a star in her own right since the million-selling smash &quot;Wild One&quot; in 1993. She is a direct descendant of the Reba McEntire school of blending traditional styles with pop-oriented hooks and backing. With big-budget production and an angelic voice, she sings crossover-prone new country with the poise and assurance of a bona-fide star with staying power.
- Eric Shea" category="Country Pop/Cosmopolitan" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/faith-hill/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Ryan Adams" description="Ryan Adams cut his teenage teeth in punk band the Patty Duke Syndrome long before hitting pay dirt with alt country latecomers Whiskeytown. Disbanding that twangy troupe after three albums (with a fourth full-length entitled &lt;I&gt;Pneumonia&lt;/I&gt; released following the band's split), Adams made like many a front man and transmogrified into an earnest singer-songwriter. In his solo career, Adams has reworked his raucous Americana sound by either stripping it down to a gritty, bare-bones sparseness or pumping it up with steam-powered rhythms, distorted guitars and some of the most polished production in all of Los Angeles. He's developed a driving, melodious pop style with catchier hooks than many of his contemporaries -- in fact, of all the insurgent country hopefuls who've attempted to break into the more lucrative Adult Alternative radio charts (Kim Richey, the Jayhawks, Victoria Williams, Rhett Miller, Kelly Willis, Son Volt, etc), Adams is the closest to achieving a crossover success of John Mellencamp-esque proportions.
- Eric Shea" category="Alt Country" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/ryan-adams/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Trace Adkins" description="Louisiana born singer-songwriter Adkins is a former college football player and oil rig roughneck. After slogging away at the fringes of the music industry for a number of years, he got a record deal and his 1996 debut record took him straight into the country charts. Adkins connected with his listeners with the combination of his smoky baritone vocals and his smart, slightly dark, Honky-Tonk sensibility. The single &quot;Thinking Thing,&quot; also off of his debut, reached No. 1 in 1997.
- Eric Shea" category="New Traditional" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/trace-adkins/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Martina McBride" description="Martina McBride knew that she wanted to be a country music singer long before she married Charlie Daniels' soundman. Before she finished high school, McBride used to play keyboards for her father's band, the Schifters. After her husband became the production manager for Garth Brooks in the early 1990s, McBride landed a sweet gig as the opening act for the hugely successful Brooks on one of his early tours. Critics may have jumped on the conflict of interest, but there was no denying that the lady could sing. Since then, McBride has proven herself by landing numerous hits on the country charts and developing her voice even further. Today, many critics consider McBride one of the most underrated singers in Nashville, and with good reason: her inflections somehow manage to sound both dainty and powerful at once. Whether she's singing soft and romantic ballads or more uptempo country rockers, her dynamic voice can go anywhere she wants to drive it.
- Eric Shea" category="New Country" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/martina-mcbride/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Randy Travis" description="Travis burst onto the country scene in the mid-1980s, around the same time as a few other seemingly like-minded new traditionalists. He combines a smoothly expressive baritone with self-penned material that features lyrical depth as well as great honky tonk-style instrumental work. Starting in 1985 with the single &quot;On the Other Hand,&quot; Travis has gone into the charts and sold a huge number of records. He virtually kicked open the door for the &quot;country hunk&quot; phenomenon, although by the time the '90s rolled around, the &quot;hat pack&quot; (Garth Brooks, Clint Black, etc.) steamrolled past him. He was still a country radio favorite and strong seller throughout the decade. In 2000, Travis released the hugely successful &lt;I&gt;Inspirational Journey&lt;/I&gt;, which combined aspects of traditional country and contemporary worship music. The album was a hit on country radio as well as contemporary Christian outlets. Many of the songs were also featured on &lt;I&gt;Touched by an Angel&lt;/I&gt;, in which Travis also guest-starred. Travis has since released country/Christian albums in rapid succession: &lt;I&gt;Worship and Faith&lt;/I&gt; (2003), &lt;I&gt;Passing Through&lt;/I&gt; (2004) and &lt;I&gt;Glory Train&lt;/I&gt; (2005). In 2008, he released the CD/DVD &lt;I&gt;Around the Bend&lt;/I&gt;.
- Linda Ryan" category="New Traditional" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/randy-travis/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Jewel" description="Jewel Kilcher is a modern-day folknik who gained a huge cult following playing Southern California coffeehouses before signing to Atlantic in 1995. Her dynamic, sparkling voice can extend from a wood-nymph lightness to that of a sultry, soulful chanteuse. Born in Utah but raised in Alaska, Jewel began playing music with her parents at the early age of six. After graduating from Michigan's Interlochen Fine Arts Academy, she moved to San Diego, where she lived in the back of her van and began to focus on her music as a career. Jewel's late-'90s hits included &quot;Foolish Games&quot; (from the &lt;I&gt;Batman and Robin&lt;/I&gt; soundtrack) and &quot;Who Will Save Your Soul,&quot; co-written with singer-songwriter Steve Poltz of the Rugburns. Throughout the decade and into the new millennium, Jewel released a string of albums, yet her sales declined, despite critical praise and radio airplay. After the singer's sixth release, &lt;I&gt;Goodbye Alice in Wonderland&lt;/I&gt;, Jewel was dropped by her label and took the opportunity to reinvent herself. Dating rodeo rider Ty Murray provided plenty of opportunities to be in Nashville, Tenn., and that is where Jewel recorded 2008's country effort, &lt;I&gt;Perfectly Clear&lt;/I&gt;.
- Linda Ryan" category="Adult Alternative" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/jewel/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Alabama" description="Alabama are Country Rock veterans beloved by gun enthusiasts and pick-up owners across these United States. With arena-rock aesthetics and pure country songs, Alabama tapped into a mother lode of a fan-base. Their booming New Country anthems and tear-jerker ballads have crossed over into the pop world more than once, illustrating a nationwide taste for countrified boogie and bearded lead singers. After more than two decades, these guys are still producing chart-topping songs rooted as deeply in rock tradition as they are in the irony and sentimentalism of country music.
- Eric Shea" category="Country Pop/Cosmopolitan" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/alabama/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young" description="The heavenly harmonies and melodic Folk-Rock of CSN&amp;Y was born in the uncanny chemistry of David Crosby (from the Byrds), Stephen Stills (Buffalo Springfield), Graham Nash (the Hollies) and Neil Young (also from Buffalo Springfield). The supergroup formed in 1968 (Young was added in 1970), and continue to sail a wooden ship of melodic soul into the new century. The salient aspects of the band's updated sound poke out in the form of harsh, angular, electric guitar tones and glossy, allocated riffs. The production is obviously much more pristine and glossy than the quartet's first album, &lt;i&gt;Deja Vu&lt;/i&gt;, but they still manage to stamp their signature vocal style on the sound, traversing from melodic pop to acoustic folk to Hard Rock.
- Eric Shea" category="Classic Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/crosby-stills-nash-and-young/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Gary Allan" description="Having grown up digging the music of Merle Haggard and George Strait, it's no surprise that Gary Allan went the route of the New Traditionalist. His county is dressed up with old school Honky-Tonk tips of the hat, and the songs are fueled by his strong and toneful tenor.
- Eric Shea" category="New Traditional" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/gary-allan/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Linda Ronstadt" description="Though she started out as part of the California Country Rock and Folk Rock movement, Linda Ronstadt is one of the few modern singers whose career has been closer to classic pop vocalists - she doesn't succeed at every style she attempts, but that hasn't stopped her from exploring new avenues. Full of top session players, her '70s albums slowly shifted from rootsy folk and slick country to '50s rock and R&amp;B to New Wave. Once Ronstadt helped break Elvis Costello and Warren Zevon to the general public, she recorded three albums of standards with famed arranger Nelson Riddle. Though she has a beautiful voice, Ronstadt doesn't really have a natural feel for jazz influenced material and she is more suited to Mexican mariachi, American country, and upscale Adult Contemporary. While you await her Death Metal phase, check out her Trio recordings with Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton; they are essential listening for fans of any kind of music.
- Nick Dedina" category="Adult Contemporary" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/linda-ronstadt/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Neko Case" description="Neko Case sings revved-up Americana in a throaty, expressive voice that's as fiery as her iconic red hair. She ran away from home at the young age of 15 and started playing punk rock with the raucous and rootsy punk pop band, Maow, before cutting her country teeth in a band called the Weasles. Since then, she's pretty much stayed true to the twang, assembling a tight alt country backing band called the Boyfriends with members of Zumpano, Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet and the Softies. Case also joined Carolyn Mark for a more retro country project called the Corn Sisters and she's also been known to cast her lot in with the rootsy power pop outfit known as the New Pornographers. In 2004 she teamed up with Canadian country rockers the Sadies who brought a psychedelic, surf-tinged sound to her sultry songs.
- Eric Shea" category="Alt Country" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/neko-case/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Waylon Jennings" description="With the help of a few other like-minded artists, Waylon Jennings birthed the Outlaw Country movement and paved the way for the country music boom of the '90s some 20 years before the fact. The first country artist to go platinum, he was responsible for making the music industry understand that country music's appeal stretches further than record executives realized. Jennings toiled in the trenches of the music industry for the better part of a decade before he hit with the smash &quot;Only Daddy That'll Walk The Line&quot; in 1968. Jennings' real superstardom came after he started using his road band to record and produce his own records. This move stood the Nashville establishment on its head, paving the way for a lot of other idiosyncratic artists to break out of the established formula. Jennings was an immensely charismatic performer whose booming voice took full ownership of any song he sang, whether it was Jimmy Webb's &quot;MacArthur Park,&quot; Steve Young's &quot;Lonesome On'ry &amp; Mean,&quot; or one of his own compositions. Nashville may have gone back to making cookie cutter records, but Waylon was still out there doing his own thing right up to his death on February 13, 2002.
- Rosemary Pepper" category="Outlaw Country" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/waylon-jennings/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Merle Haggard" description="Merle Haggard is one of the most influential country music Singer-Songwriters since Hank Williams. His career began when he snuck backstage to meet country legend Lefty Frizzell as a teen. Impressed by his songs, Frizzell refused to go back on stage until Haggard went up and sang a song -- to a warm audience response. Along with Buck Owens and Wynn Stewart, he was a pioneer of the Bakersfield country music scene in the 1960s, a working-class legend who sang torn and frayed narratives. Haggard's deep and throaty vocal style was influenced by Stewart's phrasing, his music touched by a subtle mix of blues, jazz, folk and Western Swing. Haggard's quality of songwriting has remained consistently ahead of the rest; country music wouldn't be the same without him.
- Eric Shea" category="Bakersfield Sound" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/merle-haggard/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="George Jones" description="George Jones is the king of country singers and a highly acclaimed songwriter. His straightforward aversion to trends and his dark but romantic persona have served him well through nearly five decades of recordings, a highly publicized marriage to and divorce from singer Tammy Wynette, and bouts with addictions and poor health. Though he dominated country radio from the late '50s into the '80s, his more recent recordings have received little airplay. He remains, however, the preeminent country stylist and is so acknowledged by critics and young country stars alike.
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Jones grew up the eighth child in a poor Texas family, his father an alcoholic laborer, his mother a church pianist. He came to music early, singing at 9, playing guitar at 11, and writing his first song at 12. Jones ran away from home at age 14; in 1947 he was hired by the duo Eddie and Pearl. A regular radio spot gave Jones his first glimmer of fame and also got him his first endearing nickname, Possum, so dubbed by a disc jockey for Jones' close-set eyes and turned-up nose. By 18 Jones already had a wife, a child, and a broken marriage behind him.
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After three years in the Marine Corps, Jones returned to Texas to start his musical career in earnest. He again gained attention while singing on the radio. A Houston producer, H. W. &quot;Pappy&quot; Daily, signed Jones to the Starday label; there, Jones had his first C&amp;W hits, including &quot;Why Baby Why&quot; (Number Four, 1955), &quot;You Gotta Be My Baby&quot; (Number Seven, 1956), and &quot;Just One More&quot; (Number Three, 1956). After Starday merged with the national label Mercury in 1957, Jones began cutting the classic singles that made him famous; among them, 1959's &quot;White Lightning,&quot; Jones' first C&amp;W Number One and his only pop hit (Number 73). Other hits from this period include &quot;Who Shot Sam&quot; (Number Seven, 1959), &quot;The Window Up Above&quot; (Number Two, 1960), and &quot;Tender Years&quot; (Number One, 1961).
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Jones' long string of country hits includes &quot;She Thinks I Still Care&quot; (Number One, 1962), &quot;You Comb Her Hair&quot; (Number Five, 1963), &quot;The Race Is On&quot; (Number Three, 1964), &quot;We Must Have Been Out of Our Minds&quot; (a duet with Melba Montgomery) (Number Three, 1963), &quot;Walk Through This World With Me&quot; (Number One, 1967), &quot;A Good Year for the Roses&quot; (Number Two, 1970), &quot;The Grand Tour&quot; (Number One, 1974), &quot;He Stopped Loving Her Today&quot; (Number One, 1980), and &quot;Yesterday's Wine&quot; (with Merle Haggard) (Number One, 1982). In addition to these and other major sellers were dozens of Top 20 hits. In all, Jones has found himself on the C&amp;W chart—as a solo artist or in duet settings—over 150 times.
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But Jones' phenomenal success as an artist ran neck and neck with his increasingly erratic behavior. Jones' excessive drinking, and later drug abuse, caused him to consistently miss shows (giving him the new nickname, No Show Jones), shirk off recording sessions, and behave violently toward wives and friends. In 1969 Jones married country superstar Tammy Wynette. Though their four-year marriage was stormy (Jones was accused of beating her and threatening her with a rifle), the two had chart success together during and after the marriage: &quot;We're Gonna Hold On&quot; (Number One, 1973), &quot;Golden Ring&quot; (Number One, 1976), &quot;Near You&quot; (Number One, 1976), and &quot;Two Story House&quot; (Number Two, 1980).
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Jones turned over a new leaf in his recording career and personal life during the 1980s. Eschewing the overproduced sound that had been cluttering his work, Jones returned to his honky-tonk roots. He sought help for substance abuse, amended his no-show ways, and established a stable fourth marriage. His 1992 single &quot;I Don't Need Your Rockin' Chair&quot; (Number 34 C&amp;W) featured 10 contemporary country hitmakers, including Garth Brooks, Clint Black, Alan Jackson, and Travis Tritt. In 1994 Jones recorded The Bradley Barn Sessions, a series of duets with performers including Trisha Yearwood, Keith Richards, and Mark Knopfler. That fall, Jones underwent triple bypass surgery; upon recovery, he returned to the studio to record &lt;i&gt;One&lt;/i&gt;, a reunion album with Wynette that the pair supported with a short tour. The following year saw the release of his notoriously self-deprecating, tell-all autobiography, &lt;i&gt;I Lived to Tell It All&lt;/i&gt;. An album of the same name followed later that year, peaking at Number 26 on the country chart. In 1998 he began hosting his own variety show on TNN, &lt;i&gt;The George Jones Show&lt;/i&gt;, which ran for two years.
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Jones recorded one more album for MCA in 1998 but asked to be released from the label out of frustration from lack of radio airplay. He was in the finishing stages of recording his debut for Asylum the following year when he drove his sport-utility vehicle into a concrete bridge, landing him in the hospital with damaged lungs and liver. He later pleaded guilty to DWI &amp;#8212; his first slip off the wagon in more than a dozen years. He survived the ordeal with a new lease on life, a rush of renewed media interest, and his highest-charting album of the decade, &lt;i&gt;Cold Hard Truth&lt;/i&gt; (Number Five C&amp;W), which featured the single &quot;Choices&quot; (Number 24 C&amp;W). &lt;i&gt;Live With the Possum&lt;/i&gt; followed later the same year." category="Honky-Tonk" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/george-jones/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Kenny Rogers" description="This pop icon has had a career that has thrived for more than 30 years. Rogers first found success in the 1960s with the New Christy Minstrels, a prefab lite folk vocal group that also boasted one-time members Roger McGuinn and John Denver. From there, Rogers started the First Edition, who had their first hit with a rocking, psychedelic, fuzz-guitar-laden version of Mickey Newbury's &quot;Just Dropped In&quot; only a month after signing to Reprise in 1968. After the First Edition broke up, Rogers had his first No. 1 hit with &quot;Lady,&quot; a duet with Lionel Richie, and his second with &quot;Islands in the Stream,&quot; which found him paired him with Dolly Parton. He became a country pop hitmaker in the 1970s with &quot;The Gambler&quot; and &quot;Lucille,&quot; among others. The comforting timbre of Rogers' singing voice carries with it a hushed paternal calm that seems to naturally warm up the narratives of his songs and give them a quiet authority. In fact, his songs' story lines are so strong that two of them -- &quot;The Gambler&quot; and &quot;Coward of the Country&quot; -- were turned into made-for-TV Westerns in the mid-'80s. Rogers continued to have big records throughout that decade, as well as a platinum-selling Christmas collection. The '90s charts were not as kind, and Rogers hit a patch of bad luck. Kenny Rogers Roasters, his poultry food chain, lost some sales to Boston Market, and then he was sued for two million dollars by Kevin O'Toole after he tossed a Frisbee from a stage inside a concert hall that struck a chandelier, dropping shards of broken glass onto O'Toole. He was also the butt of a somewhat infamous Internet site: http://www.MenWhoLookLikeKennyRogers.com. Kenny Rogers seems to have recaptured some of his luster, and is a huge international star. His Christmas albums always fare well among his fans, and he released a new album every year in the new millennium aside from 2005. He has even published two somewhat successful books: &lt;I&gt;Kenny Rogers' America&lt;/I&gt; and &lt;I&gt;Kenny Rogers: Your Friends and Mine&lt;/I&gt;, the latter of which is an engaging collection of never-before-published photographs from his own personal collection.
- Eric Shea" category="Country Pop/Cosmopolitan" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/kenny-rogers/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Kellie Pickler" description="The story of Kellie Pickler couldn't be more perfectly suited for a 21st century country singer had it been made up: A fast-food drive-in waitress from a tiny town in North Carolina, raised by her grandparents after her mother gave her up and her drug-addict father went to jail, catapulted into the pop spotlight via new-millennium TV sensation &lt;I&gt;American Idol&lt;/I&gt;. Pickler was eliminated from the competition early on during the show's fifth season, but she persevered, hitting post-&lt;I&gt;Idol&lt;/I&gt; pay dirt with &quot;Red High Heels&quot; (Number 15 Country; Number 64 Pop, 2006) and the autobiographical &quot;I Wonder&quot; (Number 14 Country; Number 75 Pop, 2006).
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She was born on June 28th, 1986, in Albemarle, North Carolina, to her then-18-year-old mother Cynthia Morton and father Clyde &quot;Bo&quot; Pickler, Jr. When the singer was two, her mother gave up her custodial rights, and Kellie was raised by her paternal grandparents in the nearby village of Palestine. (Pickler's hit song &quot;I Wonder&quot; ponders what her life would have been like had her mother not abandoned her.) In 2004, she graduated from North Stanly High School and sang LeeAnn Rimes' &quot;On the Side of Angels&quot; at her commencement ceremony. After school, she continued living with her grandfather while working at the Sonic Drive-In. That year, she also won the Miss Stanly County beauty pageant and competed in the Miss North Carolina contest.
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In 2005, with the urging of her grandfather, she auditioned for &lt;I&gt;American Idol&lt;/I&gt; in Greensboro, and made the cut. Inspired by Dolly Parton, Pickler lasted several rounds into the contest and was a favorite of &lt;I&gt;Idol&lt;/I&gt;'s curmudgeon judge, Simon Cowell. Although she was eliminated from before reaching the top, her country-bumpkin personality and Jessica Simpson-like ditzy humor charmed the show's fans and judges alike, and she signed a record deal with BNA Records, the label of country superstar Kenny Chesney. A week after her elimination from the contest, her father was released from prison, where he had served three years for aggravated assault.
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Pickler's first album, &lt;I&gt;Small Town Girl&lt;/I&gt; (Number One Country; Number Nine Pop, 2006), came out in October 2006 and sold 79,000 copies in its first week. Pickler's down-home and unpretentious personality has landed her on an array of TV shows, from prominent spots on &lt;I&gt;The View&lt;/I&gt; and &lt;I&gt;The Tonight Show With Jay Leno&lt;/I&gt;. In late 2007, she won a songwriter's award at the ASCAP Awards for &quot;Red High Heels&quot; and later, at the Country Music Awards show, received a standing ovation for her tearful performance of &quot;I Wonder.&quot; Pickler's second album &amp;#8212; which she says will include songs of a very personal nature about her rocky upbringing &amp;#8212; is due out in 2008.
" category="New Country" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/kellie-pickler/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Montgomery Gentry" description="Montgomery Gentry is not the name of one person, but two (that is to say that they are a duo). Their New Country sound started off with the duo tipping their hat to Honky-Tonk inspired New Traditionalists, but they have also tried their hand at more uptempo Southern Rock styles. Their songs, harmonies, and instrumentation all come together to form a chemistry that is not only believable, but also enjoyable.
- Eric Shea" category="New Country" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/montgomery-gentry/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Hank Williams, Jr." description="As his name makes clear, Hank Williams, Jr. is the son of country music legend (and Honky-Tonk deity) Hank Williams. Williams Jr. started off singing similar beer joint anthems before finding his own voice in the 1970s outlaw country realm. He can also be credited with taking the outlaw sound up a notch to deliver some gritty southern rock songs. Kid Rock cites Hank Williams Jr. as one of his most obvious influences, along with 2 Live Crew.
- Eric Shea" category="Outlaw Country" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/hank-williams-jr/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
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